I love the French word “clairvoyance” for the term vision. My native French combines “clair” meaning “clear” and “voyance” meaning “vision” or according Wikipedia, “the alleged ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through extrasensory perception. Extrasensory perception has nothing to do with any Cartesian Excel sheet, a business plan or a to-do-list. It is the combination of a vision, motto and credo that touches our heart and moves us emotionally towards action.

All the musical technique (mastery of an instrument, knowledge of scales, harmony and chords) involved into a bebop Jazz musician improvising on Dizzy Gillespie’s wonderful classic “A night in Tunisia” is irrelevant to most listeners. It is the sound, the colorful melody line, Dizzy Latin influence, the dynamics and the way the theme and music transports us into the delight and pleasure of listening (for those of us who enjoy Bebop Jazz).

We’ve all experienced this emotional inner drive that compels us to buy “things” we don’t need. Organization alike should consider this emotional side of humans and translate it into a clear vision, mission and value statement. An inspiring company vision will rally its workforce towards a cause that transcendences religion, beliefs, personal idiosyncrasies or well known disagreements between Sales and Product Development. Company vision is difficult to express when one of the core priorities is the next quarterly “Frankfurt Main share-value.” The transformational vision given by management should inspire, motivate, and move the entire workforce behind a common clear (clairvoyance) vision. Simon Sinek comes here to the rescue with his excellent insight, pointing out the importance of our dreams (clairvoyance) that inspire people and move them towards action:

Vision does not express itself best within a business plan, an Excel table or a to-do-list. Transformation goes beyond physical change; it is first a mental or “spiritual” exercise. Our western business models are built on rationale and for the most part non-renewable and non-sustainable short term profit. Character traits such as empathy, forgiveness, love, and unconditional altruism towards others are rarely part of a job interview! These character traits belong to the necessary building block any organization needs to display in order to thrive and grow. How should we then quantify and ratify character traits such as empathy, forgiveness, love, and unconditional altruism towards others into a business plan or an Excel table?

That’s where an organization’s culture comes in. A company culture reflecting an organization’s vision, mission and values based upon extrasensory perception for each individual to identify himself or herself with! An Organization’s culture all co-workers, partners, and customers can identify with and support.

I purchased Jacob Morgan’s “The Collaborative Organization” on Amazon UK at its full price. “The Collaborative Organization” is a strategic Enterprise Social Software guide and a monumental must read for any CEO, CMO, CIO and CCO (Chief Culture/Customer Officer) wanting to successfully implement Enterprise Social Software within his enterprise. Erik Brynjolfsson, coauthor of Race Against the Machine writes: “Most business leaders understand how critical collaborative tools are to the success of their companies. What they need now is a guide based on hard data and practical experiences that show how to put those tools to work. Morgan fills that need with this book.” “Rapid pace of change is occurring in technology, human behavior and business culture” writes Morgan. It is imperative for organizations to check and if necessary update obsolete intranet/extranet platforms and radically transform internal and external communication. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Lew Platt once said: “If only HP knew what HP knows, we would be three times as productive.” Please bear in mind that Morgan has a full array of added case studies on his Chess Media Group website adding tremendous value to the study of his book.1. Enterprise Collaboration Tools bring real advantages to companies willing to implement social business software solutions.Among the top reasons for enterprises considering the implementation of Enterprise Social Software (ESS) Morgan’s top six are:– Connecting colleagues across teams and geographies (72%)– Increasing productivity (65%)– Fostering employee engagement (60%)– Fostering innovation (59%)– Capturing and retaining institutional knowledge (59%)– Enabling access to subject expert (54%)Morgan uses many case studies to back up his enterprise social software exposé. 2. Accelerate the serendipity of weak ties with the use of social business software solutions“One of the most visible changes for companies is often how horizontal communications lines open up across various enterprise silos” writes Morgan. He discusses the risks companies are facing by not implementing social software tools as well as the possible threats to be faced while implementing them. 3. Excellent delivery of the technology landscapeMorgan’s technology landscape is a strategic overview social leaders will greatly appreciate when considering their social platform menu. Morgan and his Chess Media Group have done a meticulous job at surveying all the different collaborating platforms, and the percentage of companies using mashups, wikis, blogs, prediction market platforms, forums, Ideation platforms, RSS feeds, micro-blogs, collaborative file sharing and social email and much more. 4. Social Enterprise Software evaluation matrixMorgan offers an excellent vendor evaluation matrix, which is very well presented and easy to use. It will help social leaders to rank ESS vendors according to specific areas such as::– Vendor management, product roadmap and viability– Ease of use and intuitiveness– Price– Features– Technology integration and security– Customization and integration– Product features: people– Support and maintenance– Vertical expertise5. Adaptive emergent collaboration frameworkMorgan delivers another useful matrix with five core areas:– Goals and objectives (company, department, metrics, customers and employees)– Organizational culture (leadership, mutually beneficial value, change management, openness and evangelists– Process (escalation, information management, automation)– Technologies (tool selection, integration, training, adoption, maintenance and upgrades)– Governance (best practices, guidelines, employees, customers, metrics)Morgan recommends a maturity model of adoption made of seven steps and the different milestones achieved during their implementation.6. Culture and technology are the two most important driversMorgan stresses enterprise culture and how it is one of the most crucial pillars of Enterprise 2.0 when attempting to establish the right foundation for hybrid, intern and external communities to communicate and engage. Morgan quotes Carl Frappaolo “Culture is the single greatest potential asset or detriment. A culture conducive to collaboration will compensate to some degree for awkward processes and inadequate technology. In contrast, a culture not conducive to collaboration will ignore, or in the worst case sabotage, even the most sophisticated technology and process approaches to open transparent sharing.”The Chess Media Group has meticulously researched and produced a superb textbook for any CCO, CMO, CIO and CMO to assist him or her into implementing enterprise social software. Morgan has delivered another crucial piece of the social business puzzle on how to prepare, organize, evaluate, measure and drive the adoption of social software tools. Although Morgan has written a superb work, one frustration remains: the somewhat poor quality of the charts and figures as displayed by the publisher. A little more effort could have been made in order to enhance this work. The Collaborative Enterprise belongs to the text-books every social business strategist needs to own. My personal thanks and kudos to Jacob Morgan for having published a wonderful book that greatly contributes to the new discipline of social business strategy.

I bought Mark FidelmanSocialized!on Amazon at its full price (no discounts or coupons from Mark) and just finished devouring it. Fidelman delivers a fundamental work that greatly contributes to the heated debate of Social Business development. Fidelman not only shows, but proves how quintessential it is for businesses to harness the power of social. Not only with tools and technologies, but first with their immediate communities aka company workforce. Time is ripe for dismantling the prevailing command-and-control leadership style. The militaristic/hierarchical leadership approach ought to be replaced with Jon Husband’s Wirearchy structure. So why should you read Socialized!? Social Media ROI expert Dr. Natalie Petouhoff: “Fidelman’s ability to simplify key concepts like the Digital Village, Darwin’s Funnel, and the Digital Network, gives the reader a unique and important understanding of the power of Social Business. You’ll be sorry if you don’t read this book before your competitors do.”

Fidelman and his team interviewed business leaders around the globe in order to present to us a state-of-the-art social business road-map. Fidelman lives and breathes what he writes. He is the sort of individual any social minded person ought to connect with; either on Twitter/LinkedIn, and Forbes where he is a regular contributor. Socialized! not only talks the walk but most importantly walks the talk. It is a practical text-book backed up with countless case studies and examples anyone aspiring to become a social leader should be aware of and study2. Culture, culture and more culture is the foundation to any social business undertakingFidelman emphasizes culture as the 101 prerequisite to any potentially successful Social Business Strategy. Fidelman: “Why after all do we insist on employees following our orders, and why do we call it insubordination if they question them? … Yet the companies that are leading in today’s world recognize the benefit of an empowered workforce that feels connected to the organization. Empowered employees understand not only how to make great products, but more importantly how to create cultures that continue to make great products well into the future.” Socialized!will assist CMOs and CCOs (Chief Cultural/Customer Officers) not only to analyze their existent Social Business state, but provide them with a detailed 10-point Social Business Culture development program. 3. Building first an internal digital village and then an external digital networkOnce the infrastructure of a cooperative culture has been established, business leaders will need to handpick the internalevangelists and shepherds (regardless of their rank) who will co-create their internal digital village — the nuts and bolts to any Social Business foundation. CXOs need to remember that becoming a Customer Service or/and Customer-Experience oriented company first requires the emotional support and buy-in of their internalcommunities or “Smart Tribes” (as coined by Christine Comaford in her brand new book). These “Smart Tribes” or internal communities represent the company’s intrinsic power that will transform the traditional working communities into enthusiastic business advocates. After the creation of an apropos culture and the establishment of the right people foundation, the social team will need to select the social media platforms and its supportive collaborative technologies (Intranet/Extranet/SCRM/Social Business Software). This will make sure that the Social Business community sets up the proper internal tools to construct its external digital network.4. The new Social Business PlaybookYoutility author Jay Baer states: “Socialized!is an imminently readable, practical, and modern guide to social business. The playbook section alone is worth the price, and then some. Fidelman has added an important piece to the corporate social transformation puzzle.” Fidelman: “In practice, management should provide the right atmosphere, guidelines, technologies, and opportunities for employees to thrive.” Socialized! delivers a 15-point playbook: here are some of the highlights:– Building an internal and external community– Connecting and empowering thought leaders– Recruiting a Chief Social Strategist or a Chief Cultural/Customer Officer– Becoming an own media publisher, which makes me think of Michael Brito’s upcoming book: Your Brand.– Replacing traditional inbound marketing with content marketing– Leveraging employees, suppliers and partners to foster innovation– Enhancing customer support to become the strength of your company– Using Gamification to engage employees, partners and customers– Creating the potential for serendipitous relationshipsThis last point is my favorite and reminds me of the romantic comedy “Serendipity” starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale. Fidelman himself gives a wonderful example of serendipity with StaffUnity: an automated employee lunch club system provider.5. The rise of the social employeeFidelman makes the case that, social networks, consumerization of IT, mobility, BYOD (Bring Your Own Device: smartphones, phablets and tablets) and cloud computing are all being part of the social and technological developments a 21st century enterprise cannot fail anymore to ignore. 6. Measuring the ROI (Return On Investment) of a Social Business StrategyFidelman stresses that social business initiatives should only be undertaken if those can be measured. He goes on to say: “Before starting any social initiatives, you must first identify objectives such as: “improving customer relationships, product innovation, acquiring and retaining employees and growing revenues.”

Image Credit: PulsePointGroup.com: The Economics of the Socially Engaged Enterprise

Social Business metrics and ROI are very well documented in a 2012 study by MIT in collaboration with the Deloitte institute. The Economist Intelligence Unit and the PulsePoint Group published a study showing that 81% of interviewed leaders agree that social engagement has the following tangible benefits on the following areas:– Project management– Innovation– Collaboration– Efficiency gains– Cost savingIn conclusion, Fidelman’s Socialized!is a management textbook that provides all the necessary steps for a clear pathway towards a successful social enterprise journey: 1. Reviewing the existent culture of an enterprise2. Setting up an internal digital village3. Attaching an external digital village to the internal one4. Establishing a social business strategy5. Measuring Social Business ROI6. Reviewing, correcting, adapting and repeatingAny leader wanting to understand the implications and repercussions of a Social Business development program should study and dissect Socialized!. Kudos and thanks to Mark Fidelman’s altruistic attitude for having taken the time to give us one of the best researched Social Business Strategy text-books ever written thus far.Follow Bruno Gebarski on Twitter, LinkedIn or Google+http://twitter.com/BrunoGebarskihttp://Linkedin.com/in/BrunoGebarskihttp://http://bitly.com/BrunoGebarski

In the first part of this two-part series, we reviewed the four IT-eras that have shaped and transformed the CIO role into a digital mediator and one of the key technologists of the new Social Business (Enterprise 2.0) era. We saw how mainframe computing led to personal computing then followed by Internet and finally the broadband technology. The consumerization of IT has brought us the “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) movement. BYODs are compelling our 20th century business models (based on the enlightenment era and its resulting industrial revolution) to include workers personal devices such as smartphones, tablets and phablets. 5. Mobile eraUwe Vielle defines mobile computing as “the ability to use computing capability without a pre-defined location and/or connection to a network to publish and/or subscribe to information.” Mobility requires new type of softwares or SaaS (Software as a Service) stored in the cloud as well as brand new hardware handsets such as smartphones, tablets and phablets (Samsungs Note II) also known as BYOD. Two weeks ago, Gartnerreported that combined ultra mobile devices, tablets and mobile phone reached 1.872 billion in 2012 and would reach around 2.7 billion by 2017. Gartner expects a 7.6% decline in PC sales while saying: “This is not a temporary trend induced by a more austere economic environment; it is a reflection of a long-term change in user behavior.” Broadband and IT-consumerization both contribute to mobility. Ubiquitous Internet access compels us to centralize our data to a central location: the cloud.6. Cloud ComputingCloud computing could be compared to the technological shift electricity went through a century ago. At that time, Thomas Edison favored direct current (DC) systems. DC was eventually replaced by Guillaume Duchenne’s (1850s) and William Stanley’s (1880s) alternative current (AC). Alternative current made it much easier to industrialize the production and transport of electricity. In a similar way the alternative current analogy could be used for cloud computing. It is not the flow of electric charge that periodically reverses direction, but our computing routines. IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and SaaS (Software as a Service) deliver the foundation upon which private users can upload their personal digital belongings.

Traditional software vendors like Microsoft are transforming their “one way” Office product into an SaaS platform while offering a 20GB SkyDrive cloud storage. In May, Flickr rolled out a whopping 1TB (Terabyte) of cloud-storage for free accounts. Laptops and notebooks paved the way to mobile computing. Consumerization of IT brought the diversity of multi-screen computing via smartphone, tablet and phablet devices. This newly acquired ubiquitous mobile flexibility threatens the very livelihood of US-PC giants such as Dell and Hewlett Packard. 7. Post PC eraBroadband, mobility and cloud computing confirm the steady decline in the sales of personal computers in favor of “post-PC” BOYDs. BYOD threatens the use of traditional software in favor of cross-platform applications such as Android, Java or iOS. In 1999, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates coined this development as the “PC Plus” era. In 2007, Steve Job renamed it the “post-PC device” era. According to IDC the U.S. PC market contracted 12.7% year-to-year with a 18.3% decline compared to the fourth quarter of 2012. “A new report from International Data Corporation (IDC) shows a 13.9% decline in first quarter PC shipments compared to 2012. The ‘year-on-year contraction marked the worst quarter since IDC began tracking the PC market quarterly in 1994,’ according to IDC.” The US PC-industry is in a dire position. Last year Hewlett Packard announced that it would lay off over 27,000 employees. Dell’s troublesome privatization endeavors are still going on and a 274-page proxy filing states, “Dell – the company and the man – wants to move away from PCs because making money in the global PC market is about as easy as selling tap water in a rainstorm”. 8. Social BusinessNot too long ago, the CIO was considered (and in many cases still is) the technological IT-drill sergeant in many companies. He was the technological door keeper, who in the name of “security” only granted employees the right to specific choices of hardware and software. A major shift began when computing mobility entered enterprises with the use of laptops and notebooks. Emails and data access became mandatory and VPN (virtual private networks) were created. Consumerization of IT could be for the former CIO king what the 1789 French Revolution was to Louis XIV. CIOs are losing their controlling grip and are forced to accept the BYOD revolution and the respective operating systems such as Symbian, iOS, Android, Window & Blackberry to name just a few. Added to this culinary buffet of BOYDs and operating systems let’s not forget our newly acquired social media channels. Social media are transforming customer service, experience and marketing altogether and terminates the traditional hierarchical company customer communication era. Traditional outbound marketing methods (pay, pray and spray) are being replaced with inbound/content marketing which in turn is rapidly evolving into convenience marketing. Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to the age of socialMeine Damen und Herren willkommen im sozialen Zeitalter Mesdames et Messieurs, bienvenue dans l’ère socialePlease follow Bruno Gebarski on Twitter, LinkedIn or Google+http://twitter.com/BrunoGebarskihttp://Linkedin.com/in/BrunoGebarskihttp://http://bitly.com/BrunoGebarski

Our world is getting more complex every day. Technology evolves at a speed that is hardly possible to keep up with. The amount of information is exploding and as Clay Shirky points out, we need to avoid filter failure. We are at the threshold of intelligent marketing because now, Big Data is available. We are moving from descriptive and predictive to prescriptive business intelligence. How do we establish an effective business strategy, the one that will give our businesses the necessary room for successful growth and development? What should its priority list look like? Social media, blogging, inbound or outbound marketing, curation of information, website updating, brick and mortar shop, digital shop? Trying to answer such a complex question within a ten point two parts blog article is a daring undertaking, but here is a modest attempt at doing this. 1. Regularly review and refine your company mission, values and goals This could be a daunting task, but a simpler way of restarting the process is to review your unique selling proposition (USP) and then divide it into three sub-categories: company mission, company values and company goals. Having a sharp and targeted vision is quintessential for refining and pursuing a suitable strategy. Reviewing your mission is crucial as business opportunities and changes do take place. IBM, in the mid 80s, was the personal computer leader. IBM wrote US$ 16 billion of losses under the baton of Lou Gersten with 35.000 workers made redundant. IBM finally sold its mainframe business in 2003 and, under Ginni Rometty’s leadership, concentrates on three core areas: analytics, cloud computing and emerging markets. Should IBM have failed to adapt and change, who knows if IBM would have become the thriving social business leader it has been now for the last several years. A challenging way of applying technological trends could be to ask yourself if you could “create your 140 character brand promise”? Can you summarize your company’s strategy in 35 words or less? The shorter and the clearer, the easier it will be for your communities to understand your mission and purpose. It will help your business to energize its community while making it an active part of its purpose and vision. Here are three USP examples which are each worth billions of dollars:Domino’s Pizza: “You get fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less—or it’s free.”FedEx: “When your package absolutely, positively has to get there overnight”M&M’s: “Melts in your mouth, not in your hand”2. Keep transforming your content marketing into convenience marketing Traditional marketing is no longer sufficient. Businesses which mostly concentrate on their own activities and products are promised a tough time ahead. Today there are many companies that master innovation and customer experience by creating and listening to their communities. Such companies like IBM, Amazon or Starbucks give their customers the opportunities to consult, advise and recommend new products and services. Starbucks understands that some of the best ideas come from their own grass root marketers, the ones entering their coffee-shops day in and day out. Could there be a better source of feedback than the one coming directly out of their customers’ mouths? Consider your website as a customer hub with people coming and going, uploading and downloading information. The more your business listens to its community, the more focused its content marketing will be. Some of the platforms to distribute your content could be how to, tips, recommended sites and resources, books, authors, literature, recipes, videos, interviews, podcast, webcast, webinars and so much more.

It’s great to hear what Chris Brogan has to say about blogging: “No matter what, the very first piece of social media real estate I’d start with is a blog … It’s a website, with lots of built in features that make it useful from the search perspective, and simple from a content creation perspective…” Blogging is like jogging for the brain. Euan Semple once said: “You do not know what you think until you write it down.” At first blogging could be a strenuous way to ratify your thoughts, but the best way to freely express your personal ideas, views and expertise. A blog is all yours and you may write (within reason) whatever your heart desires. To blog or not to blog, this is the dilemma and the sooner your business starts the easier it will get. Blogging, like jogging, takes training, dedication and relentless commitment. Avoid blogging about your products and services. Concentrate on answering, sharing and inspiring. Give your community what they want. This will be the first act into bringing traffic to your website, and a natural way to gain traction and attention. 4. Transform your website into a social hub and your visitors into your website co-creatorsAmazon is a fabulous example of information crowd-sourcing. When inquiring about books, the first thing most of us do is to find out about customer book-reviews. Amazon has long understood that their website is not about them, but about the communities reading the books it sells. It’s about letting visitors write reviews, comment on other people’s reviews, create groups and meet like minded readers. It’s about customers’ wish-lists (a fabulous way of gathering marketing information) and remembering their interests, likes and dislikes. Amazon is a platform where people meet, read, comment, upload videos reviews and create personal profiles. A company’s website should altruistically answer, inspire and educate its community. It is not about your products or services, it is about your community, their worries, their interests and what inspires them. Consider reserving enough space for uploading videos, reviews, articles and for giving your visitors the chance to become your website’s co-creators.5. Carefully choose your social platforms According Wikipedia, “Social media refers to the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks … It allows the creation and exchange of user-generated content.” Social media is the new technological platform businesses use to promote physical or digital goods. Social media networks should be kept to a minimum: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+ and YouTube. Pick three or four and get professional help. A Facebook and Pinterest expert like Mari Smith will save you time and money as she keeps up with ongoing platform changes and updates. Mari will provide you with the necessary support while you concentrate on your business.In part two, we will review the last five fundamental points connected to the ongoing review of a successful social business foundation. Please do take the time to follow Bruno Gebarski on Twitter, LinkedIn or on Google+:http://Twitter.com/BrunoGebarski http://linkedin.com/in/brunogebarskihttp://http://bitly.com/BrunoGebarski

We often consider spider webs a nuisance… something annoying, or we look at them as the irrefutable evidence that we have not done our housekeeping properly. We often forget or dismiss the masterful exhibit of one of our planet’s state-of-the-art technologies. Most likely, the majority of us have no particular knowledge about arachnology (the scientific study of spiders). To tell you the truth, I did not even know the word until I looked it up in Wikipedia: “A spider web, spider’s web, or cobweb is a device created by a spider out of proteinaceous spider silk extruded from its spinnerets. The spinnerets are the glands spiders use in order to produce silk. Some spiders are capable of manufacturing up to eight different silks during their life time.”
To conceive such an engineering exploit is a technological tour de force. Spider webs are so stunningly complex that their study has become a science. Around the world, arachnologists analyze the physical properties of spider silk. They consider its scientific uniqueness and the technological input it may bring to future man-made woven materials. We can learn a lot from spider webs and spider silk. We can draw many analogies between their properties and the properties our private and professional communities could and ought to display.1. Spider silk is one of the toughest bio-materials yet knownThe tensile strength of spider silk is greater than the same weight of steel. Spider silk is five times stronger than steel and three times tougher than Kevlar. Spider silk starts as a liquid protein, which is too small to see without magnification, then hardens to a solid when exposed to air. Spider silk can be stretched significantly (one fourth of its length) before it breaks. It can withstand temperatures from -40°C to 220°C.
How resistant and resilient can our organizations be? How are our business communities confronting adversity and bouncing back from defeat? How expandable and stretchable are our enterprises, businesses and societies? How far can they “spread” and “stretch” before they finally break or collapse?2. The spider web has the ability to adapt to different levels of stressOne of the remarkable keys to the stability of the spider web is the fact that “a spider web design, and the unique properties of its silk, allows just a single thread to break so the rest of the web remains unharmed.” Can we say the same about our education systems, our management models and our manufacturing routines? Someday, could a giant corporation like Apple tumble or “break”? Could it be the reason that the unpredictable and creative genius of a Steve Jobs is not around anymore? Could this cause a threat to Apple’s long-haul business strategy? In “Apple Might Have a Bad 2013: 10 Signs of Trouble Ahead,” eWeek columnist Don Reisinger wrote: “Apple could be in for trouble, as there are signs that iPhone demand is waning and its mobile market share is starting to slide.” If a corporation is threatened, will it adjust and adapt the same way a spider web can?3. The silk’s molecular structure allows it to stretch“When a filament is pulled, the silk’s unique molecular structure unfurls as stress increases, leading to a stretching effect… The durability of the web is not just controlled by how strong silk is, but also how its mechanical properties change as you stretch it” says Dr. Buehler. Darwin’s bark spider can weave a huge web over flowing rivers, stretching from one bank of the river to the other. In order to stretch from bank to bank the Darwin spider must weave anchoring lines of up to 25m! They weave such large tapestries by using one of the toughest, most energy-absorbing silks ever discovered, tougher than any other known biological and most man-made materials. How tough and resistant do we train our workforce to be? What sort of company culture and vision do we impart to them? How far do we allow our workforce to stretch their minds and broaden their outlook? How do we build bridges between departments and company silos? How can we overcome isolated competitiveness for the benefit of community success? When purchasing deliberately keeps a low inventory to earn CFO strides, production is postponed, client delivery is late, client production lines stops. Does this sound familiar? Unfortunately, it sure does to me.4. The breaking of a single spider silk thread never threatens the entire web structureResearching on the spider web functionality, Dr. Buehler, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology goes on to say: “If a building, a car or an airplane is exposed to large mechanical stress, it typically breaks as a whole and the entire structure becomes dysfunctional.” He continues: “Each individual thread of silk could be ‘sacrificed’ to maintain the overall structure. How far can our communities stretch before they break? How much stress can they take? Why did Kodak file for bankruptcy in January 2012? Didn’t the management foresee the technological trends and the reality that sooner or later cameras would be digitalized?5. Spider silk becomes spider foodDid you know that spiders can nourish themselves from the silk they produce? Spiders produce a large quantity of silk, roughly 59.43 meters (65 yards) a day or 70.81 km (40.44 miles) in their entire lifetime. We could compare spider silk’s double functionality (web weaving and food) to bamboo which is commonly used for scaffolding in Asia but also consumed as a delicious plant. Will we ever see the day when a man-made product will be used both as building material and food? When will shareholders understand that greed destroys our planet? It’s time to replace polluting manufacturing plants with clean sites and an environmentally biodegradable production output. How much longer can we pollute, destroy and loot the very planet that sustains us? Companies, entrepreneurs and leaders should bear in mind that short term greed will soon destroy our children’s right to live abundantly! One thing is certain: the air we breathe, the food we eat and the water we drink… none of it will ever be digitalized!

In part two, we will look at five more spider silk properties and the physical and spiritual lessons they discretely continue to teach us, should we want to observe and learn.

How do we get creative, divergent and provocative? How do we forsake our day-to-day fire extinguishing duties (and we all have them), and force ourselves to get physically out of our office buildings, companies, towns, states or countries? How about forsaking our limited human thinking and consider “bigger” things? How about thinking out of our continent or our planet earth placed in the cul-de-sac of the Milky Way, one of the universe’s billions or trillions of galaxies? I often ask myself: Why does the speed of light travel only 300,000 km per hour? Why not faster?Stop and meditate on the fact that some studies suggest our universe could have more than 500 billion galaxies, each having 200-300 billion or trillion stars! How does this equate to our narrow, limited, shallow view of our day-to-day responsibilities? Don’t you think that the most powerful human computer ever manufactured, pales into insignificance compared to the creation of such a mind boggling space spectacle? Astronomers in Australia say there are 10 times more stars in the visible universe than all the grains of sand on the world’s beaches and deserts! Australian astronomers used some of the world’s most powerful instruments to suggest those figures, and reckon that the figures presented to the International Astronomical Union conference in Sydney, is the kind that really can be called astronomical: 70 sextillions, or seven followed by 22 zeroes!Let’s redirect ourselves towards planet earth and make a final stop at the magnificent Sombrero Galaxy, part of the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. The Sombrero Galaxy, also known as M104, spans about 50,000 light years across and lies 28 million light years away. M104 can be seen with a small telescope in the direction of the constellation Virgo.The Sombrero Galaxy in Infrared Credit: R. Kennicutt (Steward Obs.) et al., SSC, JPL, Caltech, NASAI hope by now we should all feel energized with an extra portion of motivation, wanting to get out of our building, forget our routines and consider new divergent and creative ways of thinking.How could we do this? 1. Leave your working premises and environment for an unknown destination or activity.Inside-the-building thinking is the hallmark of establishments whose structures inhibit innovation. Forget your office, your secretary, your assistants, your products and your services! Ignore your self-centered approach and forget your day-to-day business responsibilities for 48 hours! Get your creative juices flowing! Go bungee jumping, if you wish, or scuba diving. Go fishing but please turn off your smartphones, iPads, phablets or whatever electronic devices you carry with you all the time. Breathe, think, meditate and come to a full stop!

2. Bring along outspoken and extroverted co-workers who you mostly disagree with, or might not feel comfortable with.

Overcome your pride, put your ego away and get out of your comfort zone. Ignore the uneasiness of being with square pegs and strive to make the first step as a leader to break the ice and reach out! Remember, you are the cultural flagship of your enterprise.

3. Do not put yourself under pressure by forcing yourself and your team to expect anything other than letting your thinking wander around and start the creative process.

Putting yourself and your group under the pressure of “delivering” will more than likely destroy any potential creativity you or your group might have! Remember, creativity kicks in when least expected… walking around, resting, sipping on your favorite coffee specialty, or even day-dreaming.

4. Be humble, personal, vulnerable and real with your people.

Wirearchy ought to replace antiquated hierarchy and thus establish horizontal points of connection instead of the old vertical leadership lines of authority, which is now completely outdated! Invite your team to a morning of horse riding lessons and then surprise them with an afternoon of an inter-team polo match. You will end up laughing your head off as likely most of them may not have ever been on a horse before! A guaranteed story which will be talked about for days, weeks and years to come.

5. Promote employee trust by opening the doors to communication and disagreement.

Allow people to vent and complain! Allow trivia, irrelevant things, silly and out-of-reach ideas! The more divergent those are, the more your company will benefit from the event; maybe not right away, but eventually an open co-worker culture will gamify work without expensive gamification software acquisition! Give employees “the right to bitch” as ING Direct CEO did in Canada!

What is your take on outrageous communication? Will you consider a new format for your next meeting or get together? Looking forward to your comments and suggestions.